Nascar

Ask your average sports fan what they know about racing, and the first think most will say is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There is just something special about that famed yard of bricks. For NASCAR drivers there is no doubt that the Daytona is number one. And even though NASCAR has only been coming to Indy for 18 years, it has quickly become two, and in many drivers eyes, even one "a. " "It ranks up there, possibly number one," said four time Indy winner Jeff Gordon. It makes sense.

Tony Stewart might just be the hottest driver in NASCAR right now. With his win Sunday in Las Vegas, he's won two races to start 2012 (if you count his duel victory), three of the last four and five of the last 10 races last season. So wait, let me take back that opening line and just say, Tony Stewart IS the hottest driver in NASCAR right now. And how about this stat, the win in Vegas on Sunday, means Smoke has won on every active track on the NASCAR circut. "That's a huge personal accomplishment for me," sais Stewart.

So if we went back into a time machine to this date 10 years ago, things would be a lot different. Gas would be about $1.35 a gallon. We were all jamming as Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink rocked the dial with Lady Marmalade. And I hated NASCAR. So what changed in 10 years for me? You can blame Tony Stewart. I met him at a media event held by the Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2002. It was my first encounter with a NASCAR driver. And up until then, my views on the sport had been shaped by "Days of Thunder," old videos of people waving confederate flags outside the track and Sports Center video of Dale Earnhardt, Senior.

NASCAR heads to the home of horse power this weekend Detroit, Michigan. Okay, technically it's Brooklyn, but its close enough that this a big deal for all the manufactures, as they are racing in the shadow of the big 3. The track went through a repaving before the June race and it had mixed results. "There was virtually no passing, and there was only one groove," said Kevin Harvick. Kasey Kahne agreed, but has hope for this weekend's return, "The repaving made the groove a lot narrower.

It's rare that NASCAR makes national NEWS headlines, especially on a cup off weekend. But there it was, Monday morning, all the national news programs playing the video from the Nashville Superspeedway. A track that doesn't even host cup races. And it was all thanks to a man who probably has never driven faster than 70 miles an hour: Pastor Joe Nelms of the Family Baptist church in Lebanon, Tennessee. If you haven't seen the VIDEO , Nelms channels Ricky Bobby in Talladega nights, thanking God for "his smoking hot wife" and ending it by quoting Nashville resident and NASCAR legend Darrel Waltrip.

Clint Bowyer's chance at a NASCAR championship will have to wait another year. The Emporia native appeared to be headed to Homestead, with an outside shot at the title. But instead, an accident caused when Jeff Gordon intentionally wrecked the 15 coming to the white flag, lead to a 28th place finish for Bowyer and officially eliminated him from contention in the chase. "It's crazy, I didn't even need to pass him, I was plenty content riding behind him," said Bowyer. "But he slipped up and I got under him and here he comes back.

For NASCAR fans, this is the biggest day of the year. Marked on the calender the minute a champion is crowned at the season ending race. Daytona, the Super Bowl of racing. No one knew, no one could have known, that the third Sunday in February ten years ago, would be a race that would change the sport for ever. It would be the day that one of the sports biggest stars, would stop shining. The day Dale Earnhardt would be killed. To know me now, you would never know that there was a time that I absolutely hated NASCAR.